Swisscom profits up 10.1% to $1.3 bn

Telecoms giant Swisscom reported Thursday a 10.1 percent jump in first half profits to 962 million Swiss francs ($1.3 billion, 926 million euros). The company said the increase was largely technically, given weaker earnings in first quarter 2010 when it made a provision of 102 million francs for its Italian subsidiary Fastweb's tax fraud case. Sales fell 3.8 percent in the first half of the year to 5.7 billion francs, cut by a strong franc coupled with lower revenues at Fastweb, Swisscom said. The telecoms giant said that despite customer growth, Fastweb revenue decreased 6.4 percent to 875 million euros during the first half due to strong competition. Swisscom said the strong franc, which hits repatriated foreign earnings, had forced it to cut its 2011 sales guidance from 11.8 billion francs to 11.5 billion francs.